The Beauty Queen Case
by Silver Azure
Summary: A young woman is found brutally murdered, is her husband the killer or somebody really close to the couple? RATED T FOR SWEARING, VIOLENCE AND ALCOHOL REFERENCE.


"Phelps, Galloway...we got a murder case and I need my two finest investigators on the case" said Captain Donnelly

Cole arose from his chair as did Rusty, who was not all too ecstatic about yet another case after already solving a countless number of cases.

"Quit trying to butter us up Cap" joked Rusty

"Look, the victim was discovered in an alleyway in Alameda...here's the address, get there on the double" ordered Captain Donnelly

"Come on Rusty, I'll drive" said Cole

The two exited the debriefing room and headed downstairs to the exit, the precinct was swarmed with people, beat cops, criminals and detectives.

Outside the sun was shining as it was a hot day in L.A, which wasn't uncommon as it was the summertime. Cole and Rusty entered the Nash Super 600 and Cole drove to the address that Captain Donnelly gave them;

"Another murder Cole, aren't we the luckiest guys in the world?" said Rusty sarcastically

"Hey, we're getting paid for this at least...it's a job" replied Cole

"Heh, not enough kid" chuckled Rusty

"Come on Rusty, let's get serious here" said Cole

"I am serious, serious about getting this damn case over with" joked Rusty

"Same old Rusty" chuckled Cole

The duo had arrived at the crime scene, uniformed officers stood around at various spots as to keep the crowd under control and from interfering with the crime scene, they were greeted by Malcolm Carruthers the coroner.

"So what's up Mal?" asked Cole

"Well from what I see here the cause of death is blunt force trauma to the head" replied Malcolm

"Time of death?" asked Cole

"From the color of the body, I'd say around midnight" said Malcolm

Cole approached the corpse, the girl was fully clothed unlike the other murders Phelps and Galloway had seen. Cole began to examine the corpse;

"_Blunt force trauma indeed, he smashed her head in good_" Cole thought to himself

Cole then reached into her pocket and pulled out her wallet which contained her ID, two dollars and a picture of her and a guy. The ID read;

_Name: Maria Perez-Pierce_

_Date of Birth: February 1, 1929_

_Sex: Female_

_Address: 18W Alameda Av, Apt.3F_

"_Only eighteen years old, what a shame_" Cole thought to himself

Cole examined the picture that was in the wallet, he turned it over and looked at the back which read;

_To my darling wife, you make me happy! Your husband forever Ray!_

"_Hmmm...Ray Pierce, better make a note of him_" Cole thought to himself as he pulled out his notebook and made a note of Ray Pierce and the address. Cole put the wallet back in her pocket and checked out her right hand.

"_Her wedding ring is missing_" Cole thought to himself

Cole went to further examine the crime scene, Rusty was examining the area as well. While examining Cole had found a tire iron with blood on it;

"_I'm guessing this is the murder weapon_" Cole thought to himself

Cole and Rusty examined the area but there was nothing more to investigate...

"I think we should pay the husband a visit" said Cole

"You mean the prime suspect?" asked Rusty

"The spouse isn't always the _prime suspect_" replied Cole

"Ninety-nine percent of the time they are" retorted Rusty

"Before we go, I need someone to run a make on the tire iron, see if we could match it to the person who owns the car" said Cole

"I'll take care of that" said Officer Enrique Gonzales who was on the scene

"Alright, thanks" replied Cole as he and Rusty entered the car to go and interview the husband, this time Rusty drove.

"Poor girl, only eighteen years of age" said Cole

"Yeah, she was married though...I hear teenage love never lasts long" replied Rusty

"Are you saying her husband killed her?" asked Cole

"Nobody's saying that yet Cole, but under normal circumstances the spouse is always the prime suspect" retorted Rusty

"Look, it's not like I'm automatically ruling him out" replied Cole

"I understand, now put your game face on because we're here" said Rusty as the got out of the car and entered the apartment complex. Cole looked to his right and saw a sign indicating the apartments were upstairs. He and Galloway headed upstairs and saw the apartment they wanted and knocked on the door;

"Who is it?" asked a male voice from inside

"Detectives Phelps and Galloway, L.A.P.D" said Cole

The door was opened by a white male teenager with brown hair, wearing a red button down shirt with black slacks.

"Is this about my wife? Did you find her? Is she OK?" asked the teenager in kind of a panic

"May we come in?" asked Cole

"Sure" said the teen as he led them inside to the couch where they all sat down

"Mr. Pierce, it pains me to inform you that we found your wife...she's dead" said Cole not wanting to tell him but he had to.

Ray had teared up and began to shake his head in disbelief.

"No...not my Maria, No!" exclaimed Ray

"Do you mind if we have a look around?" asked Cole

"No...I...don't" said Ray sadly

Cole and Rusty had looked around the apartment, first they checked the master bedroom, it was a quaint bedroom for the apartment. Cole had looked around and read a letter addressed to the newlyweds, it was a letter from Ray's mother saying how proud she was of them.

"_I should also talk to both parents_" Cole thought to himself

As he and Rusty searched the place, he had found a restraining order under Maria's pillow, it stated that Ray's father was to keep away from her at all times.

"_Interesting...why would she take out a restraining order on her father-in-law?" _

Cole and Rusty canvassed the room but there was nothing more to be found, they then proceeded to the living room where Ray was sitting on the couch. It was time to ask a few questions;

"I'm sorry for your loss...but I do have a few questions to ask" said Cole

"What? I'm being interrogated?" exclaimed a visibly upset Ray

"Quick to jump there kid, just calm down and let my partner do his job" said Rusty sternly

"OK, first things first...where were you midnight last night?" asked Cole

"I was here waiting for Maria, she left around eight to run to the grocery to get some milk because we were all out" said Ray

"About this restraining order I found under her pillow? Do you know anything about it?" asked Cole

"No, this is news to me!" exclaimed Ray

"I think you do know" Cole said doubting Ray's statement

"Alright...fine, you see...my father wasn't to happy about me dating a Puerto Rican girl, my mother cared about my happiness but my father...he wanted me with a white woman. He would constantly berate Maria and call her a spic and lazy and every slur under the sun. He used to follow us around and used to call like crazy, she had enough and filed the order" said Ray

"So your father hated her?" asked Cole

"Yes, he did" replied Ray

"We should also canvass the neighbors, we'll see if they know how their marriage was as well" suggested Rusty

"Will do, Mr. Pierce thank you for your cooperation" said Cole

"Just find the sonuvabitch that took my Maria!" exclaimed Ray

_(A/N) So I'm stopping my first ever L.A Noire fic here, so is Ray's father the killer? Or will there be some other twists and turns in the_ story? _Only way to find out is when I post the update sometime this week! Until next time._


End file.
